CHENNAI, INDIA, August 22, 2001: Vinayaka Chathurthi was celebrated with religious fervor and gaiety in the city today, with special pujas and functions being conducted at various temples on the occasion. Songs and hymns praising the elephant-headed Lord rent the air from the early hours of the morning. In colonies and apartment complexes, residents performed puja. Hundreds of idols of Lord Vinayaka were put up in various parts of the city. Among them is one in T Nagar, which is made up of 10,008 coconuts, 450 tender coconuts and 150 copra. The city police have banned taking out these idols in a procession for the usual immersion in the sea, citing the outbreak of violence during one such procession in 1992, when the procession passed through a street where a mosque was located. Elsewhere in the state also, the festival was celebrated with traditional fervor.

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